Love & Mercy- Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys Story

A long time ago my dad mentioned that Brian Wilson was the heart and soul of the Beach Boys. I was excited when I found out they were doing a biopic of sorts with Paul Dano as a young Wilson and John Cusack for an older Wilson. The movie spends time going over the writing/creating process for Wilson in the earlier years of the Beach Boys, though after at least their first successful album and firing their dad as manager. Wilson is a musical genius who would know exactly what he wanted without having to ever write it down on paper. He could blend choruses and different musical instruments together in his head, but like most geniuses struggled to verbalize it to others. The difficulties with this are shown, and it delves into his mental issues that shut him down for three years and various times throughout his life. There is so much to cover in his 50+ years of music, so the focus was mental issues, Beach Boys drama, and a bit about meeting his current wife. It does a really good job of blending those themes and Cusack and Dano both do great jobs with the difficult issue of playing a genius with severe mental issues (which they never tell you what the proper diagnosis ended up being, though they know mention it is not paranoid schizophrenia). Bottom Line: 7.6 out of 10. Fans of the Beach Boys should absolutely watch this. It was a $1.00 rental on Amazon Prime and it's certainly worth the watch to just have a view into the Beach Boys creative process I felt.

The Force Awakens: Star Wars Part: VII

The newest installment of the Disney-era Star Wars movies has launched. It's killing it at the box office, but it felt like it was just a the first building block of creating a mega-franchise with off-shoots in a lot of directions. Without trying to give anything away because the film was as closely guarded as our nuclear codes the film picks up 30-40 years after Return of the Jedi, probably closer to 30 than anything. The Empire has morphed in the First Order lead by a Supreme Overlord and policed by Kylo Wren, a clear Darth Vader disciple. There is still a Galactic Senate ruling, but there exists a resistance, very similar to the Rebellion before it. They dust off some old characters, introduce a cavalcade of new ones, and hope they advance the ball far enough in this film to leave everyone happy and the potential for many more films, which it accomplishes. The CGI is excellent. Story is acceptable. Acting is very good. I was personally disappointed in the lack of Wedge Antilles, the true hero of the death star battles, but I'm probably flying solo on that one. Bottom Line: 8.5 out of 10. I'm a Star Wars guy, so I'm trying to be somewhat objective. I do like the new characters introduced and see them having successful careers stemming from this series. I'd see this in theatres, mainly because it's a cultural revolution apparently, but it's also very entertaining.

Creed: Was This a Rocky Movie?

I bit on Creed since I'm a huge Rocky fan and it was getting great reviews. Michael B. Jordan is going to be a star, if he isn't one already. He plays Apollo Creed's bastard son Adonis who, after a few stints in group homes and juvenile centers is adopted by THE Phylicia Rashad (Mrs. Cosby!), which it was great to see her acting again. You catch up with him as he's quitting his, assumingly, high paying job at a financial firm to focus on his passion of boxing, though his mom is violently against it. He leaves L.A. since nobody, including Duke's (Apollo's former trainer) son, played by Ed Woods (The Wire is all over!). He goes to Philadelphia knowing he wants Rocky Balboa and only Rocky to train him. If we forgot Rocky is just existing in a strange state of apathy/depression running Adrian's restaurant and doing very little. He is fast-tracked to the game by fighting a very good fighter in his first match. Jordan is very believable as a fighter and took the role very seriously, that is apparent. They toss in a love story because they had to. Across "the Pond" the light heavyweight Champion "Pretty" Ricky Conlan was recently released from prison and looking at the twilight of his career. In the weigh-in for his title defense he sucker punches the other guy, breaks his jaw, and ruins it. After finding out Adonis is Creed's son, a fact he tries to hide, he is given the title shot vs. Conlan. Conlan looks like a dude they rolled off the couch, which bothered me a ton. He isn't very believable as a fighter because I've never seen a boxer who isn't in good shape fighting for a title at light heavyweight. In any case you get your mix of training montages/scenes, the budding love story, the touching moments of personal growth, etc. from your standard Rocky film, but it didn't feel quite the same. Bottom Line; 8.1 out of 10. It's good, not great, though Jodran is excellent and Stallone really plays the aging Balboa very well. It's worth seeing in theatres, but it can wait.

Steve Jobs: Not the Ashton Kutcher Version

Steve Jobs attempts to tell the complicated tale of Steve Jobs' life through three different product launches for the Macintosh (1984?), The Cube (1988?), and the imac (1999). A good script from Aaron Sorkin and superb acting from Fassbender, Daniels, Rogan, and Winslet help carry the story. It deals a lot with his very complex relationship between his daughter, who he denies for several years, his baby mama, and his employees/coworkers, etc. The relationship between "Woz" (engineering genius Steve Wozniack) is interesting and complex. Daniels plays former Pepsi CEO and the Apple CEO who gets Jobs ousted John Sculley. Winslet and Fassbender's back and forth is superb. I think they should've pushed for more film dealing with his later years. I would've liked an ipod release, or something for his last 15 years. There is plenty to cover in Steve Jobs life, but I wanted more of the redemption story and the push to make Apple a giant again. Bottom Line: 8.2 out of 10. I'm a sucker for great acting and Aaron Sorkin's writing. I would again mention this will be out on video soon and that's totally fine to catch it when it's cheap or free. I do think Fassbender will get a nomination in another loaded Best Actor field. Dicaprio in the Revenant will be another seeming surefire nomination on top of Fassbender, Gyllenhall, another Eddie Redmayne Oscar-bait role in the Danish Girl, and who knows who else will fill the card.

Mockingjay Part II: The Conclusion

I needed to see this in theatres because I thought the previous three films were all excellent. This movie is a very different from the others in that it's actually pretty light on heart. The movie is an action movie similar to an Alien/Predator movie in that it follows a small task force led by Katniss and some other tributes and all-stars. It's very serious and a different feel for sure. The rebels are trying to take the capitol, kill President Snow, and complete their rebellion and win freedom for all. The capitol is heavily fortified and it gets ugly in the process of taking it over. Katniss is again at the forefront and her celebrity is utilized in ways she isn't a fan of. Her love triangle is still in the works, though Peeta is still a bit crazy and bloodthirsty at times from the brainwashing. Bottom Line: 7.4 out of 10. I was disappointed, but it's still a solid film. I was hoping for more in this final installment, but it gets the job done. You can wait until it's on video or cable.

Southpaw

I fell into the Black Friday madness and bought Southpaw for $9 knowing I wanted to see Gyllenhall's Oscar bid. The movie follows him as a boxer from the tough New York foster system. He marries Rachel McAdams, they live in a mansion, they have a daughter, and he fights UGLY. He is a brawler who is somehow 43-0 and holds a bunch of title belts. The movie follows him through another title defense and 50 Cent plays a promoter who is actually pretty good in the role. Gyllenhall defends the title at a pretty steep cost to his body, particularly his face. He retreats to the solace of his wife and daughter. There is another fighter looking to challenge for the crown and in a skirmish SOMEHOW Rachel McAdems gets shot and dies from it on the floor of a hotel. That sends Gyllenhall into a talespin and he somehow loses everything, which I refuse to believe is even possible. His violent tendencies cost him custody of his daughter and he has to rebuild from the bottom working at a gym and training with Forrest Whitaker, the damaged one-eye trainer. Bottom Line: 7.1 out of 10. Very well acted with the exception of his daughter (as bad as that sounds to bash a kid acting...). It's worth a shot when it comes to cable. Gyllenhall bulks up very well for the role, but it's tough to buy him as a bad boy still.

Spectre: The Newest Bond Offering

I was excited to see Spectre knowing the GOBS of hype, great cast, and solid track record from the other Daniel Craig Bond films, Quantum of Solace being excluded from the "solid" comment. This movie picks up with Bond tracking men to a hotel in Mexico City (By the way I missed the first 5 minutes, so I may have missed something important, etc. sadly). Bond hears of plans to blow up a stadium and he starts shooting guys, hitting the explosive device. After the huge scene he successfully kills everyone involved, takes off a ring with an Octopus symbol (SPECTRE's symbol) on it, and escapes in a helicopter. The attention gathered from the incident puts MI:6 and the "OO" program in serious jeopardy with Britain's new Joint Chief of Staff. Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whishaw, and Naomie Harris all come back to reprise their roles of "M", "Q", and "Moneypenny", which is great. Waltz is the new addition that I was incredibly happy about. He plays the classic role of "Blofeld", Bond's greatest enemy. Bond continues to search for SPECTRE fueled by a video recorded from Judi Dench's "M" letting him know to search out and kill Marco Sciarra. Monica Bellucci is very underused as Sciarra's widow. Bond begins to peel back layers of SPECTRE and finding out from Mr. White himself that SPECTRE is very serious and gives Bond information on the promise that Bond will protect his only daughter (insert Lea Seydoux). It's similar to most Craig-style Bond's, though Waltz is VERY underutilized as Blofeld and the primary villain. There's not enough screen time between Bond & Blofeld. This film is lacking in feeling too in my opinion. I liked Dave Bautista as the generic super-muscle. The story is stale in that it feels too similar to Skyfall. British Intelligence is compromised at the highest level, bad-guy has eyes everywhere, it's Bond vs. technology and the smarter bad guy. Bottom Line: 7.3 out of 10. I was far from impressed, but it was still a decently entertaining film. Seydoux's very good and I expect her to be around for a very long time. Hopefully she continues to do American films.

Run All Night

Seeing the cast of Ed Harris and Liam Neeson I knew I would eventually see this movie. It popped up on HBO and I was in. The movie follows Neeson's character "Jimmy", who was a hitman for Ed Harris' fledgling crime syndicate that is now the largest in the city, which I think is Boston or New York, I don't think they ever specifically say? Jimmy is an old drunk who does nothing with his life and Shawn Maguire (Harris) is the only person who cares about him anymore. Maguire's son Danny is trying to be a part of the family business, but instead just does a bunch of coke and is an idiot. He brings a deal to his dad where Russian's are going to send heroin to the ports he controls and he'll get a nice cut and a few million dollars up front. Shawn turns down the deal, his son freaks out and the Russians want revenge on Danny. The Russians randomly book Jimmy's son Mike, who drives limo, hates his dad, and trains children without father's to box in his spare time, so he'd be the "good guy" in this film. The Russians are shot by Danny, the last one in a side alley that Mike and one of the kids he trains to box see, and record on the kids phone. Danny then realizes he'll probably have to kill Mike, but he escapes, goes home, and his dad comes over to smooth things over. He hates his dad Jimmy, which they make apparent constantly, but realizing it's his best bet to stay alive, he listens. Danny, despite orders from his father to leave it alone, breaks in to kill Mike. Jimmy shoots Danny, and the movie finally starts to get more entertaining. Jimmy goes to war vs. Shawn Maguire and finally people start dying and this becomes a real film. Harris is underused, Neeson is solid, but unspectacular, I'm not a fan of Joel Kinnaman (new Robocop) who plays Mike. Story is one you've seen before, but it's still entertaining and done alright. Bottom Line: 6.2 out of 10. Nothing special here, but after the paragraph I wasted explaining the film you can fast forward, save 30 minutes and see the good parts finally.

Dope: Limited Budget Gold

Dope follows a group of "nerdy" kids in Englewood, CA. There are three in the group and they live 90's hip-hop style. High-tops that rival Will Smith's at his peak, but not quite Kid from Kid n' Play. They deal with the realities that to get to a good college it takes a lot. They start hanging out with a drug dealer who stuffs a backpack with two kilos of MDMA (Molly) and off the adventure goes. Great references to 90's culture and hip-hop is all of the place, so I dug that. ASAP Rocky makes a guest appearance and is great in his turn as the drug dealer they start hanging out with. Bottom Line: 8. 8 out of 10. Underrated hit this year that is well done throughout. It's worth watching and poses the great question of are kids in "rough" neighborhoods looked down upon (yes) during college applications and does their experiences in fact make them a better choice than white kids from privileged upbringings? Big fan and I hope this gets some love during awards season.

Narcos

I've been enthralled with the Netflix series Narcos recently. It follows Pablo Escobar, the other Colombian cartel drug lords, the DEA, various politicians, and really does the best job of giving a holistic approach of telling the story of the massive war on cocaine in 80's. The name Pablo Escobar has always meant cocaine and crazy money to me. Growing up just after he was finally killed I've tried to watch various things and read a little bit about him and how massive his criminal empire was. He is super fascinating. The acting in the series is superb. The quality is excellent from top to bottom. The story is as interesting as any you can watch. I have no clue on how truly historically accurate everything is, but you certainly believe they've done their due diligence. The series tracks the beginnings of Pablo Escobar from being a smuggler of stolen goods and marijuana and how he became the largest cocaine kingpin the world has ever seen (I'm pretty sure anyway). I'm also secretly hoping the series brings back chest hair as something that's cool again. Bottom Line: 9.3 out of 10. I've been a fan of pretty much everything that I've seen with it and I can't watch it fast enough.

Ant Man: Everyone Loves Paul Rudd

Ant-Man is a much lesser known Marvel commodity than Thor, Iron Man, or Captain America, but it's the same franchise apparently. Ant-Man follows the story of Dr. Henry Pym, who creates a serum called the Pym Particle that shrinks matter without changing it's strength. It's works on people, and Ant-Man and the Wasp are born. Dr. Pym is played by Michael Douglas and it's a great role for him. Rudd enters the story as a thief with great morals who stole from a corrupt company who was taking money from customers. Rudd comes out of prison looking to get straight and be a bigger part of his daughter's life. Rudd is released from prison and struggling on his own. Dr. Pym tracks him and prompts him through various hints to rob the Ant-Man suit from his home. In the foreground another Doctor working for Pym Laboratories is trying to develop the Pym Particle again since Dr. Pym buried it and refused to be a part of any weaponization of his discovery. The Ant-Man suit is necessary to steal the new technology and keep the world safe. Evangeline Lilly plays Dr. Pym's incredibly good looking daughter. It's not the best of the Marvel films, it's not the worst. Rudd is excellent like usual, as is Douglas and Lilly. Michael Pena does a pretty good turn as a hyperactive, nervous thief. Bottom Line: 8.3 out of 10. If you like Marvel films, you'll like this one. Solid throughout, though a lot of the stuff with ants gets a little preposterous. Very good acting, decent script/story, and it's worth checking out whenever you come across it.

Prozac Nation

Prozac Nation is a biopic about author Elizabeth Wurtzel and her tremendous struggles with depression and mental illness throughout her college years. It's an amazing look at mental illness and incredibly personal. The movie tracks her complex relationship with her mother and father, who divorced when she was around 10 I believe. Some of the best scenes are between Christina Ricci and Jessica Lange as they crash into each other unveiling their weaknesses and struggles in incredibly emotional moments. It follows various college experiences and some of her writing successes. It's incredibly interesting to see a really good film about mental illness. This film would be a huge reason Christina Ricci is viewed as a good actress who still gets work. She's fantastic and the rest of the cast is very solid, including a very young Jason Briggs and Jonathon Rhys-Meyers. Bottom Line: 8.1 out of 10. Certainly worth watching whenever you come across it.

Jurassic World: Saga Re-Vamped

Jurassic World follows a very familiar tale of a huge theme park based on bringing dinosaurs to the masses. This theme park has some of the same geneticists (Dr. Henry Wu) from the first movie, which I respect and thought was great. The park is trying to push genetic limits (standard) and create new dinosaurs to create more revenue and are looking for a company to sponsor the new attraction. This dinosaur is going to be T-rex sized, but faster, smarter, etc. There is some great CGI and the newer dinosaurs are very impressive. Chris Pratt is a man who trains raptors to do some things like group hunting. Bryce Dallas Howard is the career women who is the GM of the whole place who has no time for kids or a personal life. Her nephews visit and become part of the mess. The smart, T-rex like dinosaur escapes and mayhem ensues. Disappointingly it was too similar to the original Jurassic Park for my tastes, but a similarly impressive achievement with CGI and monster creation. Bottom Line: 7.1 out of 10. It was entertaining, but familiar. Worth a rental for some mindless fun.

Focus

I watched Focus, the Will Smith/Robbie Margot film about a crew of people who are con artists. They conduct business in elaborate ways and generally through slight of hand, or other various things, they get people's wallets, rings, watches, etc. Margot is trying to learn from Smith about the trade to become better. Margot is incredibly beautiful, so that's great. She does alright as a beautiful woman trying to figure out the con game. Will Smith is your standard, silky-smooth Will Smith. The movie is interesting, but it's frustrating at times and like most "who-dunnit?" capers it's tough to follow and a bit ridiculous sometimes. In it's defense, the ending was a bit of a surprise. Bottom Line: 5.9 out of 10. It was alright, but not much else.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

HBO starting showing "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" and I thought it worth a viewing this Sunday. Ben Stiller plays a negative asset manager, which means he handles photo negatives for LIFE magazine, which is a bit of a lost art. LIFE magazine is going to cease being a magazine and start being an internet magazine. Walter has worked with a certain photographer (Sean Penn) for 18 years and handled hundreds of his photos and millions of other negatives. Walter is trying to win the affection of Kirsten Wiig, who works in photograph accounts. He realizes his life is rather boring when setting up an online profile for eHarmony. Sean Penn delivers his last negatives, but #25 is missing, which he has deemed his "best work" and a reflection on the human condition, etc. He gave Walter a wallet with LIFE magazines motto on it in the package, but nobody can find the treasured negative. Walter goes on a search for Penn, who is a reclusive TRUE ARTIST (AKA hippy vagrant weirdo) who doesn't carry a phone, etc. He tracks him based on some of the other negatives to Greenland, begins having adventures, and follows him to Iceland. He keeps working on finding Penn to find the only missing negative that's ever happened during his tenure. There's the plot of his relationship with Wiig, Patton Oswalt as the eHarmony employee trying to help finalize Walter's profile, and his mother moving into an adult living facility while moving her piano in, that was the first wedding gift from her late husband (their late father). These things all move together as Walter has amazing life experiences while tracking down Penn. It's a "slice of life" tale that combines love, some adventurous moments, and the uplifting tale of Walter growing as a person. Bottom Line: 7.2 out of 10. I was a sucker for something sentimental on Sunday before football, so keep that in mind, but it was a "nice" movie that's kind of funny, has some interesting parts, and features Stiller & Wiig, who are VERY likable actors.

Sicario: Action/Drama Done Right

Movies I want to see I avoid as much of the trailers & information as possible. Sicario I saw a trailer for and knew I'd be seeing it. Great casting of Benecio del Toro (Unreal), Emily Blunt, and Josh Brolin, but they had me at "Benecio del Toro play badass drug cartel cop.". It gets paralleled to his role in Traffic, but this is MUCH different because it makes his Traffic role seem like he was a Pixar movie character. Sicario jumps right into the action by following Blunt, an AZ police officer in the kidnapping division, on an arrest/smashing into a drug cartel house. They find none of the people they are looking for, but the walls are lined with dead bodies and it's crazy. Blunt is added to a special task force that's going to actively get after the cartel responsible for the house of horrors. Brolin is the Government official running it, but del Toro is the fist of the operation, the Hand of God capable of just about anything. I don't want to talk a lot about the details of the movie, but I do want to say it's the best action/drama I've seen in a long time and that del Toro and Blunt will both be nominated for best acting awards and this will be on the block for best picture. Bottom Line: 9.4 out of 10. Great everything in this movie and it should be seen in theatres immediately. I love being around for Oscar season. I liked this more than the Martian, though they are very different movies.

The Martian

The Martian is Gravity + Apollo 13 + Castaway + Macgyver. It's the story of a Mars mission that ends abruptly following a powerful storm. In the storm a man is left behind, but that man is Matt Damon (astronaut/botanist Mark Whatney), and he's invincible and awesome. Damon's character finds himself covered in dust, wounded, and without anyone within a thousands of miles, probably more like hundreds of thousands of miles. His status report is incredibly grim, but he has steely resolve, true grit, Jason Bourne blood, knowledge of botany, and testicles the size of bowling balls. He sets about various tasks to grow potatoes on Mars, increase battery life on his rover, create water for the garden, etc. NASA frantically tries to figure out ways to get first supplies, and then a rescue to astronaut Mark Whatney. A great cast is assembled with Jessica Chastain, Jeff Daniels, Michael Pena, Kate Mara, Sean Bean (SPOILER, he actually lives through this movie firmly planted on Earth) and Chiwetel Ejiofor (I needed to look up the spelling again). Drama is everywhere, but you find yourself legitimately pulling and caring about every twist and turn in the Mark Whatney saga. The lady next to me in the theatre was squirming, laughing, gasping, and was clearly emotional invested in the film. Matt Damon is just too damn likeable. Bottom Line: 9.4 out of 10. Fairly certain this is my favorite film of the year and therefore the early favorite for Best Picture Oscar as well as another Best Actor nomination for Matt Damon, possibly a win. Run and see this in theatres, though I feel seeing it in 3D like I did is unnecessary.

The Water Deviner: Russell Crowe is Ruggedly Handsome

I rented the Water Deviner thinking I'd get an uplifting tale of success through hard work and defying the odds. Crowe plays a father who had three sons fight for King and Country (Australia fought for England in WWI, etc) who were listed as deceased after a large battle near the Aegean Sea. Crowe's wife commits apparent suicide drowning in a shallow pond by their home because after four years she lost hope in her sons returning. Crowe decides that would be the perfect time to start looking for their bodies. Britain sent a team to recover "dog tags" and mark the lost soldiers from WWI. Crowe has the impressive ability to locate water in the Australian desert and that helps him locate two of his sons who perished during the intense battle. He befriends various Turks despite the fact they are not on the friendliest of terms. He finds that his eldest son was sent to a POW camp and he continues the search against all odds and the wishes on the British government. It's interesting and he is quite the diplomat as the gorgeous Olga Kurylenko falls for him because she's in the same situation waiting for her husband to return from the same battle. Bottom Line: 7.1 out of 10. It's a good story and an able cast, but it does get a bit boring and long throughout the story. I'm glad the running time is around 100 minutes because much more than that would have been too much. Worth a rental if you're looking for an uplifting drama.

Kingsmen: The Secret Service

I rented Kingsmen: The Secret Service during my 1/2 price week at Family Video. It had surprisingly good scores on Rotten Tomatoes and I figured it was worth a shot. Colin Firth plays the "primary" agent of the Kingsmen, a secret agency not funded by any government, but one that stands for true independence and gentlemanly pursuits and honor. Colin Firth is perfect, Michael Caine is excellent as well as the "agency" head of the Kingsmen, Mark Strong is great as "Merlin", the trainer extraordinaire and finally Samuel L. Jackson plays the villain, though it's a more whimsical role than what we're used to with Sam Jackson sadly. The plot follows Jackson's character as a billionaire technology mogul who is offering an implant that will allow free internet and phone service to anyone with it. You know his reasoning is diabolical, but you don't know exactly how. A Kingsmen agent (Lancelot) is killed trying to rescue Mark Hamill (I know, you can't kidnap a Jedi) and the event makes the Kingsmen dig into Sam Jackson a bit more. Meanwhile a former Kingsmen agents son (Agent died in 1997 saving Colin Firth's and others lives by jumping on a grenade) is a bit of a rogue/rebellious youth with a ton of talent and ability, but he's spending his life being a loser in England. He calls the number on the back of a medallion given to him as a five year old and it's a direct line to Firth to get him out of a tough legal spot that would include grand theft auto, destruction of police property, etc. He's enlisted to become the next Kingsmen agent with eight others. The movie follows a fun, stylized form from Matthew Vaughn. The violence and action is fun, a bit ridiculous, but very impressive. It's a fun, unique story that makes fun of a lot of movies that follow the similar vein of a Bond-like film. Crazed, megalomaniac bad guy, sophisticated spy, global destruction/domination being the stakes. Bottom Line: 8.1 out of 10. It's a fun time that has a few surprises up its sleeve. Worth the price of a rental if you're looking for a fun action movie.

Ray Donovan: Season 3

Ray Donovan is getting back to its beautiful roots of Ray being a badass and not taking shit from anyone. They did a great job in casting bringing in Ian McShane (Most famously Al Swearengen in Deadwood) and Katie Holmes. I'm so happy this episode is much less weird family drama and past drama and a lot more Ray just TCB'in it (Takin' Care of BIZNESS). I've enjoyed Terry being in prison thus far. Bunchy running the gym has been a waste of time, but it has some potential. It's been a great start to season 3 that I couldn't be more excited about. Two episodes in and the sky is seemingly the limit. Bottom Line: 8.8 out of 10. We're back on track and hopefully a trail of bodies will soon follow.

Entourage: The Movie (A 90 minute episode in other words)

I was a big fan of Entourage since I found out about the series my Freshman year of college. It's been entertaining as long as it kept to the simple formula of gorgeous women, awesome toys, Ari Gold and partying. The movie is equivalent to a 90 minute episode. The drama of this one isn't Vince trying to find a role, it's Vince trying to direct a studio film with a $100 million dollar budget. It's wash, rinse, repeat. Drama is still a neurotic idiot, Turtle has actually changed and instead of being their weed guy, he owns a mansion. E is still a whiny bitch who someone gets gorgeous women 8 points out of his league (on a ten point scale). Vince still effortlessly gets the most beautiful women in the world while being self-conscious about everything. Ari kicks a lot of ass, though he's sadly toned down a bit. There are more cameos, a bigger budget, and that sums it up. Bottom Line: 6.1 out of 10. Watch season 1 episode 1 for a recap of the movie.

A Most Violent Year

I took a flyer on A Most Violent Year since I have 1/2 off rentals for the next two weeks. I was fascinated by the movie since I saw the first trailer and I really like Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac. The movie follows Isaac primarily, and his family, including his wife Chastain. Isaac is owns and operates an oil company (Standard Oil) that delivers heating gas to families throughout New York. He has dreams of buying a large storage and holding facility along the Brooklyn (I think?) River that will allow him to store oil and purchase it from any barge he pleases along the river. He needs to come up with $1.5 million dollars and put up his life savings as collateral. His trucks start getting hijacked and violence is widespread in New York, hence 1981 was indeed the most violent year on record. Isaac is outstanding, so is Chastain, Albert Brooks, David Oyelowo (underutilized), and pretty much the entire cast. It does move a little slow, but it unfolds very well and keeps pace enough that it isn't boring. Bottom Line: 7.8 out of 10. Interesting period piece showcasing excellent independent film stars/crew. Worth seeing whenever it hits cable TV.

Fast & Furious 7: This Seems Familiar?

I had a free rental from Family Video, so I utilized it to rent Fast & Furious 7: The Most FURIOUSER of Them ALL! I knew what I was getting into and it's nice that they no longer have to waste any time on "character development" besides Statham's random bad guy Deckard Shaw. This is shocking, but the "Family" needs to get back together and go on crazy missions with cars and action included. Statham's brother was the guy killed in F & F 6, so he's mad and wants revenge despite not being close at all with his brother. He kills Han and blows up Vin Diesel's house, so now everyone's pissed off. He gets into a giant brawl with Agent Hobbs (The Rock) and an explosion injures THE ROCK, keeping him on the sidelines for a good chunk of the film sadly. The find Shaw THE FAMILY needs to recover "God's Eye", a device that utilizes all cameras and microphones around the world to find someone. They need to rescue the hacker responsible, and then the actual technology. I'm glad Tony Jaa was brought in, though he was tragically underutilized. The car and action scenes are similar in the insanity and scope of the previous movies. Despite being heavily armed somehow they always find themselves in hand-to-hand combat. It's two hours of crazy car/fighting action that is thoroughly entertaining. Things don't need to make sense always. There is a very nice tribute to Paul Walker at the end, but I was hoping to find more in the special features, but there was nothing. I found the special on how they create/find the cars they use to be excellent. Their car purchasing guy clearly loves what he does and that's entertaining. Bottom Line: 7.1 out of 10. It is an action movie through and through that manages the moments where you want to shake your head and call "bullshit" on. If you've seen any of the others, especially the last few, it's very similar shockingly.

NBA Conference Finals 2000: A Reminder of Great Basketball that's Since Passed

I consistently defend the NBA as a fan who watches EVEN the regular season games. The game has evolved and changed, as all sports, but the NBA comes under more scrutiny for the erosion of the basics. Today I was watching a replay of the Lakers vs. Blazer game 5. The Blazers trotted out Scottie Pippen, Detlef Schrempf, Steve Smith, Rasheed Wallace, Brian Grant, Bonzi Wells, Arvydas Sabonis, Damon Stoudamire, and former UNLV stars Greg Anthony & Stacy Augmon. The Lakers brought Kobe, Shaq, "Big Shot" Bob Horry, Ron Harper, Glen Rice, Brian Shaw, Derek Fisher, Rick Fox, and then rookie Devean George. Two powerhouse lineups loaded with stars and veterans. I was enjoying excellent basketball featuring simple things done beautifully. Brian Grant perfectly feeding Steve Smith in the post as he drew 3 fouls that caused Kobe to foul out, got the Blazers in the bonus, and was just great to watch. I remembered the collapse of game 7 when the Blazers somehow lost a 15-point lead in the 4th quarter. On the other side the impressive Knicks vs. Pacers series was underway. Latrell Spreewell, Patrick Ewing, Larry Johnson, Marcus Camby, Allen Houston, Charlie Ward, and Kurt Thomas. The Pacers trotted out Reggie Miller, Rik Smits, Mark Jackson, Dale Davis, Chris Mullin, Jalen Rose, Derrick Mckey, and Sam Perkins. The Pacers hid Jonathon Bender (who Larry Bird called the best one-on-one player on the team), Al Harrington, Travis Best, and Austin Croshere for an amazing youth movement to back the stellar veterans. On paper it's disturbing the Blazers and Pacers lost to that Lakers team, but depth doesn't always matter in a best of 7. I was nostalgic and missed the depth and quality of play that I didn't see in today's game. The corner 3 wasn't utilized as the smart, statistical play and essentially the goal of every possession. There wasn't a huge pick-n-roll presence, but offense was still fluid and beautiful. The play was more physical, but also more skillful. I just found myself soaking it all in realizing that perhaps my 15 year-old self couldn't fully appreciate what I was watching at the time. I'm an ENORMOUS Michael Jordan fan, but the playoff matchups witnessed in 2000 eclipsed anything I remember from that era in terms of both conferences throwing great teams at each other in the Finals. Heavyweight slugfests for both the Eastern and Western conferences. It reminded me of the amazing fun of the strike-shortened Knicks team wearing the 8-seed as a badge of honor as they fought their way to the finals before losing to an unreal Spurs team that simply rolled Duncan and Robinson out and the Knicks had no answer. Bottom Line: Loved soaking in some old basketball from an era that I don't think is recognized and appreciated as much as it should be. I remembered some nuances like Travis Best being a really solid backup point guard and how the Blazers had several EXCELLENT scoring options that bounced around being option 1, but that ultimately was their undoing as in Game 7 NOBODY could grind a basket out to keep the healthy 15 point-lead safe from the Lakers. LOVED IT.

Black Mass: Glad Johnny Depp is Off the Weird Train

Black Mass is the tail of Whitey Bulger, who I sadly didn't know a lot about besides that he's a famous criminal. Depp plays Bulger, a Southy project legend of Boston. He's outstanding. Benedict Cumberbatch plays his Senator Brother and Joel Edgerton plays a "friend" from the same projects as the Bulger's Edgerton becomes an FBI agent who utilizes Bulger as an informant. It allows Bulger to have a certain amount of immunity as the FBI's main goal is the destruction of the Italian Mob. Bulger helps in that process and then rides the wave out as he dominates the Boston underground. I have no clue about the accuracy of the movie, but I can tell you that it's very good. Depp has a ton of range as Bulger and Edgerton is a great screenmate. Edgerton recently cranked out a great director/actor movie called The Gift that I already wrote about, so his star should certainly be on the rise. Excellent acting and an amazing story highlight this film. Bottom Line: 8.4 out of 10. I was a huge fan and certainly recommend viewing it soon. It kicks off Oscar bait season and I'm very excited.

Straight Outta Compton

This one scared me since it's so incredibly ambitious to attempt to tell the story of the formation and destruction of N.W.A., the Godfather's of gangster rap. The group was formed with Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Eazy E, MC Ren, and DJ Yella. It led to the formation of Ruthless Records, which cranked out the N.W.A. albums and a few solo projects for Eazy E, MC Ren, DJ Yella, and later Bone Thugz-N-Harmony (Their mega-hit "Crossroads" was actually written for Eazy-E shortly after his death from AIDS). The group came on essentially out of nowhere. Eric Wright (Eazy-E) was dealing drugs and was recruited by Dr. Dre to spend some of his elicit money on music. Dr. Dre was already in a group, but had no problems working on music with Wright. Ice Cube was in high school at the time, but still penned most the rhymes used by N.W.A., specifically Eazy-E's and Dr. Dre's, in addition to his own. DJ Yella was a DJ with Dr. Dre in their group World Class Wreckin' Crew and came with Dre immediately. This movie does an incredible job of cutting through the around 7 years from their formation and meteoric rise, to the separations of Ice Cube and Dre from the group, to forming Death Row Records and Cube's solo projects, to Eazy-E's unexpected death. It covers so much ground, much of it deserving of separate films, but it does an excellent job. N.W.A. deserves a TON of credit for getting rap that wasn't meant for the radio and MTV to get mainstream play and success. I'm presuming without their contributions it would be impossible to tell when rap would've been so popular in all of America. The actors all do very well playing incredibly difficult, iconic roles that most people that watch have an idea of how they sound, look, and act. O'Shea Jackson Jr. finds the role of a lifetime in getting to play his dad, Ice Cube. Even later on the actors playing Snoop Dogg, Suge Knight, and Tupac do a very good job. The story was produced by Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, and Eazy-E's wife, so you were getting various points of view, etc, so one artists isn't focused on, or shown in a more favorable light than the others. Strong showing from F. Gary Gray as well, who is probably best known for directing Friday. Bottom Line: 9.1 out of 10. I'm biased because I like rap, but this movie does just an amazing job of covering a TON of ground and the basics + more about an amazing tale about N.W.A. and all that went with it.

Maleficent

During the free Starz trial and took a flyer on Maleficent. The tale follows the formation of the "wicked" witch of the Sleeping Beauty story and why someone would put a curse on a child that would cause them to go into a coma upon pricking their finger on a spindle on their 16th birthday. It was visually VERY impressive with incredible CG/effects. Angelina Jolie is very solid and they chose Sharlto Copley (District 9 fame) to play the King, and he's alright, but far from special. The story takes an interesting view on the age old tale and it holds up alright. You still wonder how hard it would be to keep a 16 year old from a sewing wheel, but whatever. Bottom Line: 5.9 out of 10. Worth watching for the visual effects, but not much else is very strong. I would think it's a bit scary for children under 9-10 as well, but I'm far from an expert on that. Watch it for free when it's on basic cable if you have some free time.

The Gift: Michael Bluth is a Dick

The Gift has gotten really good reviews and limited press, so I was excited to check it out. The story follows Jason Bateman and his wife as they move into a new place in California and start their life over after a miscarriage. Bateman runs into a "friend" from high school who starts dropping off gifts, showing up a lot, and pissing Bateman off. I don't want to really give a ton of the story away, but it does a great job of slowly unravelling back story and plot while keeping you primarily in the dark. Excellent performances throughout and hats off to Joel Edgerton for writing, directing, and starring in a tough role on this one. Bottom Line: 8.6 out of 10. Worth seeing in theatres. Bateman plays an asshole REALLY, REALLY well and that's scary. I think he should be a campaigning politician that just shreds everyone and everything. Can I get royalties for this great idea?

Still Alice: Oscar Home Run

Julianne Moore takes the dramatic role of a lifetime as a former Columbia Linguistics professor suffering from early onset Alzheimer's disease. You follow the journey from the earliest of symptoms until her memory is a real struggle, forgetting her children's names and needing help getting dressed. For anyone who has experienced when this happens to a loved one it's heartbreaking. It hits too close to home as Moore's portrayal is spot-on. She's almost too good. Alec Baldwin is rock steady as her husband as he tries to figure out how to balance career vs. care for her. Kristen Stewart plays a daughter (she has a great agent), Kate Bosworth as another daughter, and Hunter Parrish (Silas from Weeds is the only thing he's done) round out the cast. It's simplistic and carried by the strength of Moore's performance and the brutally honest story that follows someone who suffers from a deteriorating disease. There's little humor or fun, just brutal reality. There are a few peaks of the pain and sadness that really rip your heart out, but it doesn't bend reality for feel-good moments. Bottom Line: 8.3 out of 10. Probably rated lower than I should just because it tears your heart out, but worth watching just to see Moore knock the role out of the park. It's a career role and she gets everything out of it possible.

The Purge: Anarchy Round Two of Failure

The Purge takes the noble concept that if once a year we all took a 12 hour period and had no rules that everyone would be happier for the other 364 days. Instead of making these movies a crazy, Mad Max-esque action film that throws crazy shit at you for 90 minutes, this ugly think clunks and sputters trying to form characters you care about in 3 minutes or less and then have them endure some epic survival adventure. It's shocking to me how someone takes an idea so crazy and new, yet the movie is cookie cutter and lame. I found myself playing around on my computer and watching tennis on the other TV in much greater proportion than THE PURGE: ANARCHY. Bottom Line: 2.9 out of 10. Even the shitty CGI blood sucked at some parts. There was no redeeming qualities other than the bad guy with the gatling gun mounted truck looks actually pretty badass. Everything else was shit garbage.

The Theory of Everything: Eddie Redmayne's Best Actor Bait

HBO started showing The Theory of Everything, the story of Stephen Hawking and his life/relationship with his wife. I was excited knowing Redmayne beat a LOADED field to win Best Actor at the Oscar's, but I was not overly impressed with his performance. I think he played Hawking VERY well, but, and this is going to be horribly offensive, he didn't have to do all that much for the majority of the movie. I also wasn't an enormous fan that the movie didn't do a great job of talking about Hawking's numerous breakthroughs in Science/Math and I also thought it didn't do a great job of showing his family life, though that was the intent. It's a very visually stunning film that does explain some of Stephen Hawking's remarkable life and that is a achievement. Bottom Line: 8.2 out of 10. Very good film, but the struggles that I didn't like are noted above. Very good film with very good performances, but it's like generically saying "he's a nice guy".

Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (also, the last anime movie I watch probably ever)

Because Amazon.com does such a great job with advertising deals I jumped on Cowboy Bebop for $7.00 on blu-ray. The movie follows a group of bounty hunters lead by Spike, an americanized/stylized bounty hunter with excellent kung-fu skills. It's actually a pretty interesting story and the animation is impressive. Spike and the other bounty hunters struggle to find work that pays decent money, but en route to collect the bounty on a hacker there is a bio-terrorism attack, putting their target in the $500 million of whatever currency they use range. The story follows their hunt for him and the hunt to figure out what his weapon is. It's subtitled, which isn't the worst of things. I fell asleep during a part of it, but I think I rewound to the right point and caught up. The character of Spike as the hero I have trouble accepting with his original "Devil may care" attitude that's completely changed when he experiences a cliched "near-death" experience. It's a decent story and unfolds well, I'm just not huge fan. Bottom Line: 5.7 out of 10. No reason to run out and watch this one. I feel like I did a disservice reviewing it. I am clearly not an anime fan.

Top Five

Top Five is Chris Rock putting together a semi-autobiographical film with a bunch of his friends, but unlike when Adam Sandler does, it's hilarious and really good. The film follows Andre Allen (Rock) around while he promotes a movie called Uprizing, the story of the Haitian slave revolt that resulted in 50,000 dead whites. He takes an interview with the NY Times providing us with Rosario Dawson in the perfect role for her, a beautiful, smart, strong woman. She follows around Rock for the day as he promotes the film, comes clean about his life, and they find similarities in their lives. Rock's character has a drinking problem that he has fought with and stayed clean for 4 years, so the film is supposed to take place in 2007 apparently. He's surrounded by his wife to be, a reality starlet played (perfectly) by Gabrielle Union. JB Smoove is his best friend/entourage of one/manager. His family is hilarious and played by mostly other stand-ups, most notably Tracy Morgan. The cast is just unreal playing either themselves, or hilarious characters. The tale goes through these two crazy days in his life and it's fantastic. It's interesting to have his take on a bunch of things throughout the film, like his friends Top Five rapper/MC list, hence the films name. Bottom Line: 8.4 out of 10. Run out and see this hidden gem. It didn't get near enough notice when it had it's run in theatres, but it's excellent. Funny, insightful, entertaining, and thoughtful. Even being a white dude I thought it was spot on.

Spirited Away: Anime Attempt #3

In an attempt to continue to find movies I haven't seen and are unique I bought Spirited Away, an anime film that, according to IMDB, is one of the best "cartoons" ever. The movie follows a girl (maybe 11?) and her family as they are moving to a new house in a new city. They stop near their new house and explore a long archway that leads to another world. It's a world very unique where humans are scarce and thought little of. The movie follows her journey to reunite with her parents and get out alive. I didn't watch with subtitles, but with English dubbing, which isn't great, but not terrible. The animation is impressive, the story is pretty good, and it is unique. Bottom Line: 6.4 out of 10. Not a huge fan, but it wasn't too bad. I think it's safe to say I'm not a huge anime fan. Next up, tentacle porn. P.S. I've been watching The Wire again and I'm almost certain season 3 is the best season of television ever. What a great series.

Daredevil: The Series

Netflix resurrected a very interesting character in Daredevil. The Afflack movie tanked as hard as any superhero movie and to top it off the guy is blind, so that would seem difficult to pull off. This is a rather gritty, dark drama. There are a lot of brutal fistfights done very well and it brings back Fulton Reed to boot! Charlie Cox does a great job in playing Matt Murdock, the blind attorney/vigilante. The stunts and fight scenes that I'm assuming he does himself are top-notch. Elden Henson, aka FULTON REED, is also good as Murdock's best friend and law partner Foggy Nelson. They retread Jessica from True Blood (Deborah Ann Woll) and throw in Vincent D'Onofrio as the ruthless, yet sophisticated Wilson Fisk, aka Kingpin. I'm only 2.5 episodes in, but I've been very impressed up to this point. I'm excited to see D'Onofrio's role increase and enjoy his performance more than his limited part in the first couple episodes. Rosario Dawson plays Claire, the friendly nurse who patches up Daredevil just to be nice. It's impressive like most Netflix sponsored shows that I've seen (House of Cards, Orange is the New Black). If you are an action/drama kind of person I recommend giving this one a roll of the dice. Bottom Line: 8.2 out of 10. It has a real "Seven" feel to it in tone, use of darkness, and grit that I enjoy.

The Judge

Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall headline this tale about redemption, forgiveness, family stuff, and lawyering. There was a ton of potential here as some moments with Duvall and RDJ were bliss, but this missed the mark on a lot and was too long at 2 hours 27 minutes. RDJ is a super lawyer and essentially Tony Stark (standard) only without the suits. Duvall plays his father, a proud, small town judge of 42 years. RDJ returns home for his mom's funeral, which is a big deal because he never goes home. He's proud to avoid his small Indiana hometown because he's a big-time lawyer in Chicago (I think). They smother you with small-town values and family stuff. RDJ is sometimes unbearable as his character is contradictory way too often. Duvall is excellent as a angry, proud old man refusing to give an inch on anything. There's some twists and turns as things from the past and present are revealed to you, but it all takes too long. They throw in a stupid love story that wastes time and you really never feel like you get anywhere in this one. It's worth watching for two excellent performances and some of the moments they spend on screen together, but I wasn't a fan of much else. Bottom Line: 6.3 out of 10. It's on HBO, so it's worth checking out if you have it.

Mad Max: Fury Road

I think my testicles grew by proximity just being near the screen on this film. It's just balls to the walls action that I sadly missed the very beginning of. You join Max in the dystopian future where he is a captive of "The Citadel" which is a city merely because it has water, which if you're playing the dystopian future game is rather important to survival. It's got a super-creepy overload (standard) and a bunch of psychotic "War Boys" who live to die doing his bidding. It's refreshing because George Miller wanted to make a kick-ass action movie and he certainly accomplished that. I'm not certain, but this baby might have destroyed more cars than Blues Brothers. Max and Charlize Theron lead a mini-convoy attempting to escape The Citadel with some of the leaders concubines (or more accurately ladies he forces into having sex with him to try to produce normal children, anyone know the term for that one?). There is just insane amounts of stunts, car crashes/explosions/craziness and awesomeness. This film is to be enjoyed on the big screen with bros and beer in a perfect world. Bottom Line: 8.8 out of 10. Just entertaining as fuck.

Avengers: Age of Ultron

I jumped on board the blockbuster bandwagon on Saturday and checked out some Avengers. I'm completely in love with the cast of this movie because adding the voice of James Spader and Paul Bettany can do nothing but make things better. I was actually interested in going deeper into the character of Hawkeye and making his humanity shine through. They spend some time with Bruce Banner and the Hulk, which is also nice. I was enthralled from the beginning because they wasted absolutely NO time in jumping into this thing full tilt. They give you some time to breathe, but only after 30 minutes of action and craziness. I really want this series to keep churning it out, but I feel like there's probably too much money getting demanded out of Downey Jr, etc. to keep the series coming back every other Summer. This was probably my favorite Marvel super hero movie with Captain America: The Winter Soldier and the first Iron Man rounding out that group. Bottom Line: 9.2 out of 10. I like it exploring humanity, etc. I bought everything they were selling. Corporate pawn I guess.

Draft Day: I thought this was Supposed to be Realistic

Draft Day attempted to allow us to feel like we were in a "real" War Room for the draft, but that's an outright lie. The moves made are unrealistic and ridiculous. The pinnacle of the insult mountain is the Jaguars trading the No. 6 pick for three second rounders. It's so preposterous it's physically painful to watch it happen. The deal for the Browns to move up to No. 1 was feasible, but I'm going to ruin this piece of shit for everyone, SPOILER ALERT they don't take the franchise QB that everyone expects. They take a guy who would've been available at No. 7 originally at No. 1, like the Jaguars would've done. The QB falls to number No. 6 where the Browns trade their next 3 second rounders, since they traded 3 first rounders to move up. The Jaguars take it because we're led to believe that nobody does any homework in the draft and the players they expected to be available at 6 wasn't. The Browns THEN deal No. 6 back to the Seahawks for all their picks back PLUS a punt returner. That's EVEN more ridiculous than the Jaguars deal. It'd be more realistic that a fan riot in either city broke out and murdered all team personnel. This heap of shit isn't even over and I'm ready to rule on it. Bottom Line: 3.1 out of 10. Awful, crap, boring, stupid, ridiculous. DO NOT WATCH THIS. P.S. I'm insulted Ellen Barkin was associated with this film. I also forgot to mention that it wastes time trying to make some relationship tension between Costner and Garner, which is probably worse than the draft shenanigans. I want my two hours back whatever studio threw this garbage together.

Machine Gun Preacher

I was avoiding this one because I'm far from a Gerard Butler fan, but this had a great rating on Netflix and I was looking for something entertaining. Butler is a good fit for a man who struggled with drugs, booze, and guns (though I guess struggling might not be the best word for the guns...), but he also does well in the redemption part. Sam Childers would be better playing himself because he's clearly a badass. The pictures during the credits don't do him justice I'm quite certain. He completely changes his life after he fought with and stabbed a hitchhiker him and his friend pick-up. The hitchhiker did try to hold a knife to his friend, which was a bad idea. The movie tries to balance his family life with his calling, which is building and maintaining in orphanage in war-torn Sudan. He goes to unbelievable lengths to sustain and protect his shelter/orphanage. It's a great story, especially after seeing the amazing documentary "The Devil Came on Horseback". The reality is Sudan is as close to hell as possible and the efforts of Sam Childers make a monster difference in the kids he saves. Bottom Line: 8.4 out of 10. The movie is excellent, though I have an enormous soft spot for movies like this. I thought they spent too much time on the family struggles, but Sam Childers life probably deserves a TV series and even that might not be enough time to do it justice. I think it's probably worth reading more on Sam Childers.

The Drop- Don't Bother

I was excited to fire up The Drop featuring Jimmy Gandolfini and Tom Hardy. The movie seemed like a movie centered around robbing money from a "Drop bar" where illegal money is dropped and picked up by mobsters, etc. I assumed this would mean wild badassery from Tom Hardy, or AT LEAST Jimmy Gandolfini, but sadly it does not. It just drags on for 107 minutes of mediocrity and attempted character development. I joked about 20 minutes through that Tom Hardy's character is "deeply troubled" as evidenced by EVERYTHING about the character. Bottom Line: 5.1 out of 10. Deeply disappointing, down to Tom Hardy's bullshit simpleton "accent".

Bad Words: Bad, with Words

This movie tries to capitalize on Jason Bateman's "fame". Bateman is funny, but this is not one of those occasions. The film tries to be funny by making Bateman's character, an angry "genius" who finds a by-law (DODGEBALL style) to get him into the National Spelling Bee. He's a complete dick, uses bad language, and does "funny" things to other contestants. It's a real stretch and tries wayyyy too hard to be funny, or anything. I was hoping for much more, but it's really just trying to use really bad language in inappropriate situations. It would be like watching a dude swear during a church service for an hour. Bottom Line: 4.1 out of 10. Avoid, it's just not worth your time.

John Wick: Murderboner

John Wick wastes no time jumping into the set-up. There is about 5 minutes of character development showing John after his wife dies, he's depressed, she bought him a dog who brings him a bit of joy & sunshine. That dog is then murdered by the fuck clown that play Theon Grayjoy (Alfie Allen (Yup, that's his real name...)) and shit hits the fan. John Wick breaks through a foot of concrete to find his hidden box of murder toys and goes to work. If you watch this movie you know what you're getting into, so it's refreshing (unlike the Equalizer) to just get into it and not fuck around with story/plot/character development. Keanu Reeves might be a bit old because he seems a little slow in some of the fight scenes, but he's excellent as the silent, motivated, driven hitman-type. It also succeeds in not being COMPLETELY ridiculous since you know there is going to be a lot. There's an excellent scene where he confronts Theon (not his real name or character name, but it makes more sense to me) and a gaggle of Russian mobsters into a dance club. It rivals the great scene from Collateral where Tom Cruise runs through the club killing a bunch of dudes and trying to get to Jamie Foxx. Bottom Line: 7.6 out of 10. It's a REALLY good action movie and I enjoyed the movie quite a bit. I'm glad Keanu keeps getting after it in the action hero role since NEO will always bring nostalgia. Don't watch unless you want to see a bunch of dudes getting shot and stabbed.

Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief

HBO brought the wood on another great documentary about the horrors that is the "Church" of Scientology. I shudder at everything that movie presented about the abuses of power and basis for Scientology. It starts going through who L. Ron Hubbard was and why it wasn't surprising he could fabricate the entire basis for Scientology since he holds the Guinness Book of Records for most books published at over 1,000. Hubbard came up during the depression where writes were paid per story, so he had to write a LOT. This movie digs through interviews with former HIGH ranking members of Scientology, videos from Scientology, footage, FBI reports, etc. It's incredible how much great information they had to merely present facts about how awful Scientology is. You keep wondering how something like that hasn't been exposed, imprisoned, shut down, or at least TAXED. I learned some things that I will never forget. Very interested in joining the upper ranks to try to get my hand on a piece of the $3 billion dollar valuation of Scientology. They have real estate holdings in several countries and in places like Vegas, L.A., New York that are certainly extremely valuable. Bottom Line: 9.2 out of 10. Highly recommended.

Last Man on Earth

Will Forte takes a crack at TV with a new comedy on Fox called Last Man on Earth. The premise is as simple as it sounds and Forte is funny enough to be able to handle the camera himself for long periods of time, but the show takes a dynamic turn rather quickly (2nd episode I believe). Not to ruin this thing, but Forte is NOT ALONE. Forte is put in various situations and my personal favorite is his inflatable pool filled with booze and margarita mix. This show has slowly been falling out of favor with me as his characters quirks and antics are already getting old. I originally thought it was pretty funny, but I'm already close to punting on this one. McGruber is the only reason I've stuck it out as long as I have. Bottom Line: 5.9 out of 10. Not recommending this one unless you are a BIG Will Forte fan.

Foxcatcher

The tale of Mark & Dale Schultz and the interactions with John du Pont could have probably been an entire TV series with several seasons. The eccentricities and complexities of Du Pont were just scratched in Foxcatcher, but even that is very impressive. Mark Schultz won the 1984 gold medal and was primed to repeat in 1988. His coach, best friend, and mentor was his older brother Dale. They both won gold medals at 1984, but Mark was the prime candidate to repeat due to being younger. John Du Pont, part of the Du Pont chemical fortune, decides to "help" Mark in his training by paying him to stay and train with the people of his choosing at Foxcatcher Farm. The farm is located on the du Pont estate in Newtown Square, PA near Valley Forge. Mark excitedly tells Dave, but Dave has no desire to uproot his family and move to PA. Mark starts training and brings some other wrestlers to Foxcatcher Farm. Du Pont and Mark become very close at Mark wins the World championship and seems primed to repeat his Olympic gold medal victory in 1988 in Seoul. Things become complication and Mark becomes psychologically damaged. Dave is brought in to help, but the situation worsens. The story is really the character study and performances of Tatum, Ruffalo, and Carell. All are very strong, though I will say after seeing the documentary that is shown being created in the film, Carell is too much in his portrayal of du Pont. Tatum is excellent as a wrestler in total mental & emotional turmoil. Ruffalo is phenomenal as Dale Schultz. I really thought his portrayal of Dale Schultz was especially impressive considering he is 47 and he looked like he could still wrestle at the Olympic level. Bottom Line: 8.7 out of 10. Very good movie that covers a TON of ground and very complex issues. It neither condemns or deifies anyone in the story. Very well done.

Whiplash: J.K. Simmons Oscar on a Silver Platter

J.K. Simmons playing a psychotic band teacher prone to fits of rage? How could THAT role EVER work out? It was made for J.K. Simmons and he knocks it out of the park for the most part. The film follows a drummer prodigy played by Myles Teller who is accepted into an academy to essentially play drums. He works harder than everyone and gets invited to Simmons' symphony as a freshman (AKA "First year" in band talk), which simply doesn't happen. Simmons threatens him and berates him verbally, as well as the other players. Teller becomes even more devoted to his craft and essentially obsessed by it. He practices the point of blisters and callouses that bleed all over the drums. The relationship between Simmons and Teller is essentially the film, but there's entirely too much Teller & not enough Simmons, hence the best SUPPORTING actor Oscar for Simmons. Bottom Line: 8.2 out of 10. Certainly worth watching for Simmons just OWNING it as the psychotic band teacher. Not on par with some of the other best films nominated, but it's worth watching.

House of Cards: Still Awesome

I hope there isn't anyone surprised that House of Cards is great in Season 3. A phenomenal cast, interesting and well-written story, and such interesting subject matter come together beautifully again. Robin Wright & Kevin Spacey carry the heaviest weight, but the various seasoned newcomers do a great job of helping out. The standard twists and turns continue to shock & awe. I love how the show continues to pull no punches and plow through incredible moments and subject matter. What's sacred? How far would one go to accomplish their goals, or their goals for the nation? What constitutes a friend that you would do anything for, or someone you just use until they aren't useful anymore? It's so fascinating because you feel like this could very well be true. It could ALL be exactly how politics functions. It's probably infinitely more exciting than the petty bullshit that fills the average dealings of our Washington folks. It does make politics interesting, so that has to be a win. I love how it focuses on just one party and doesn't deal with the back & forth and begging for votes to push things through like the past seasons. It's probably the best show currently airing. Mad Men has a chance to unseat that with it's final season, but I'm doubting it. Bottom Line: GET ON BOARD. If you haven't watched it yet STOP waiting and get Netflix or borrow someone's password & username.

Robocop REBOOT, because Why Not?

Robocop was re-done and promptly shit all over. It's on Netflix, so we took a flyer on it (T.R. & myself). The cast boasted an impressive bunch in Michael Keaton, Jackie Earle Haley, Michael K. Willams (OH SHIT, OMAR'S COMIN')Gary Oldman, Sammy Jackson, and Abby Cornish, who I only listed because I find her VERY attractive. All are in secondary roles are loaded with star power, but the rest of the money was spent on CGI and the writers and other actors were paid in food and a warm place to sleep apparently. Bad: The script is pretty atrocious, Joel Kinnaman is pretty underwhelming, and it's PG-13. Good: The real actors, Abby Cornish, and CGI. The story is similar, but really drags a lot more of his human side in to everything, which sucks. Keaton is especially awesome because he can do NO WRONG lately. Oldman is excellent as a scientist at the heart of the Robocop project. Just because you're a fan of the first Robocop, don't see this thing. Bottom Line: 4.1 out of 10. It really isn't worth seeing this movie. It's that simple.

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

I got around to seeing the final Hobbit movie EVER (I'm doubting that). It's at the cheap seats, so it worked out perfectly. The film picks up where the Desolation of Smaug ended, with Smaug (a dragon) destroying a city. I'm going to save the backstory and just say the dwarves take over their ancient castle that Smaug was occupying. The treasure makes the King (Thorin) lose his mind. Bilbo hides the "Arkin (Alan?) Stone" from Thorin because he's certain it won't help him be any less crazy. An army of Elves lines up outside the castle because there are ancient stones that belong to them. The people from the city Smaug laid waste to also lineup for money that was promised to them by Thorin. An army of orcs show up out of nowhere to really fuck things up and more dwarves come to make this thing a complete shit-show. The last solid hour is just epic CGI battles, which I'm a sucker for. The movie helps define certain parts of the LoTR trilogy that helped me understand some of the backstory a lot better. Bottom Line: 8.3 out of 10. I really enjoyed this movie, especially on the big screen. The CGI is impeccable as always and I'm a sucker for EPIC battle scenes. Needless to say if you liked LoTR and the other 2 Hobbit movies, you're going to like this one as well. Shockingly astute, I know.

Finding Forrester

Coming across this film that I should've seen 14 years ago I decided during this lazy afternoon to watch it on Netflix. It is the story of a talented basketball player/poet/writer named Jamal (some people have it ALL) from the Bronx and the relationship he forms with a reclusive writer named William Forrester (played magnificently by Sir Sean Connery). Rob Brown is phenomenal, especially considering he was 16 years old when shooting of the film started. It's refreshing when an actor can actually play basketball when he's supposed to be a scholarship athlete. Jamal experiences racism/prejudice at his new prep school who has a literature professor (the awesome F. Murray Abraham) who refuses to believe Jamal writes the work he submits. He connects on a final paper Jamal hands in that is titled and uses the first paragraph from a work by Forrester submitted to the New York Times in the 60's. Jamal doesn't mention that Forrester is helping him/allowed him to use his work, but instead faces a looming decision of the school board that may include expulsion, but not before the almighty state basketball tournament that Jamal has led the team to. The film is carried by two excellent performances with some excellent help from Abraham, Anna Paquin, a sprinkle of Michael Pitt & Busta Rhymes as well. You can predict most of what happens, but that's alright because Somewhere Over the Rainbow being performed at the end was a surprise that was awesome. Bottom Line: 7.2 out of 10. Glad I saw it and recommend you should too. It's just a story we've all seen before for the most part.

Princess Mononoke

I, after much debate and thought, bought Princess Mononoke, which is often considered certainly among the best anime films ever. I did purchase the English language version vs. the original with subtitles, but this version is also highly touted. Billy Crudup, Gillian Anderson, Billy Bob Thornton, Minnie Driver, Claire Danes and Jada Pinkett Smith all lend their voice talent. The movie is relatively new (1997) and the animation is excellent. I was impressed with both of those aspects of the film. The movie starts with a small village being attack by a huge wild boar, who you later find out is a demon possessed former forest God. The boar is killed by Ashitaka, our hero, but it comes at a price at his arm is infected from being touched by the demon. He begins a quest to find the God of the Forest to heal his wounds before he becomes possessed and dies. You meet the humans, represented by "Iron Town" and Lady Eboshi who cut down the forest for firewood to stoke the flames to create iron and industry. They fight with the animals of the forest with guns and explosives and are currently winning. The movie follows this battle of nature vs. progress, industry vs. preservation, animal vs. human. It doesn't really choose a side, but shows that both side is driven by hatred and prone to destruction. It's a very good story that's relevant to all cultures and people. I did fall asleep twice when I would try to watch this film late at night, but it wasn't from a lack of interest. Bottom Line: 8.2 out of 10. I was impressed by a lot of the film and I highly recommend a viewing. It's not available a lot of places, but if you can get your hands on it you won't be sorry. It's the best cartoon film that I've ever seen.

American Sniper: Bradley Cooper= Big Time Star

American Sniper is an amazing and true story about Chris Kyle, most possibly the greatest sniper in American history. He was, by all definitions, an American hero. He served 4 tours in Iraq during the most dangerous times of our war, had over 120 confirmed kills, and saved a lot of american troops in the process. This film does much more than just touch in his incredible service record though. This film dives into the toll these feats took on Chris in his life back home, and to his family, particularly his wife played by Sienna Miller. Miller does a VERY good job as his wife. It actually, and quite disappointingly, took me until the end credits to find that out. The movie does an incredible job of filling in some back story on Chris, then handling his military and civilian life, all in 150 amazing minutes. Cooper is incredible in handling not only the incredibly difficult job of playing a believable Navy SEAL sniper, but in showing the difficulties of handling civilian life. His performance is incredible and just adds to the amazing best actor category at the Oscars this year, which I spoke about the disappointment in David Oyelowo not being nominated, but it's just a stacked category full of deserving performances. Cooper proves he's capable of being an incredible and blockbuster carrying leading man. His career, though it's been on a seemingly meteoric rise since The Hangover, is now firmly hanging out in the mega-star stratosphere. The hope with this film is highlighting the need for care, and in your own life, just a willing heart & ear to help returning veterans deal with PTSD and the after-effects of their service. Chris found that helping other veterans go to the shooting range and spending time together not only brought him joy, but made a positive impact on the other veterans. The difficulties with this are that it's impossible to know and understand what happened to the men and women in combat without having experienced it yourself. Their is a brotherhood among those who have served, especially in combat. I hope the movie leads to greater communication between veterans who can gain strength, friendship, help, and comfort from talking with each other through the issues and struggles they are experiencing. Ideally it will also help veterans feel comfortable and confident in seeking out help from others if they are struggling with life after combat. It's something very near and dear to me as my Grandpa almost certainly suffered from undiagnosed PTSD from WWII and the total inability to deal with, or communicate with all the issues from it. It lead to depression, anger, and ongoing racism that plagued his "civilian" life. I also have a friend from high school who has struggled and continues to bravely deal and live with PTSD from his service in Enduring Freedom. Bottom Line: 9.3 out of 10. Excellent film highlighted by Cooper's timeless performance. It's certainly worth seeing in theatres and reflecting on. It will linger in your thoughts after the film and you will never find a more silent movie during and after the credits. Phenomenal, Oscar-worthy stuff. Similar to the 2014 Best Picture category, this is another great year from what I've seen in Selma, the Imitation Game, American Sniper, and in a different way Birdman.

Chef: Food as an Art Form

Chef follows the tale of Jon Favreau as an executive chef at a high-end & successful L.A. restaurant. He SOMEHOW has a child with Sofia Vergera, which is the most unlikely thing about any movie in history. Favreau plays a standard role of schlubby looking dude who is usually chill, but has an intense side. John Leguizamo plays his line cook, Bobby Cannavale his sous chef, Dustin Hoffman the owner, Scarlett Johansson as hostess, so the cast is excellent. Throw in Oliver Platt as a big-time food critic and a sprinkle of Robert Downey Jr. as Vergera's uber-rich ex-husband and you've got talent. Favreau is getting ramped up for Platt showing up to review their restaurant. Hoffman clips his ambition and convinces him to cook the standard, but boring and uninspired, standard menu. Platt rightly shreds the menu, and particularly Favreau, which spirals him into an angry mess. He starts experimenting with social media to further ruin the situation and gets into a fight with Hoffman, where he promptly quits. He ends up getting a food truck and cooking what he likes. There's some redeeming father stuff tossed in there as well. Most importantly this movie highlights that great food is available anywhere. Passion in cooking food is HUGE and chefs are empowered more than ever in the pursuit of culinary excellence and experimentation. Bottom Line: 7.8 out of 10. Funny and entertaining enough to pull through with limited story to work with. The fact that Favreau had Vergera and Johansson as lovers in this film shows that he is the director, because that's completely fucking ridiculous. In a related note I'd cast Anna Kournikova to be my wife/lover in any movie I cast even if she couldn't speak English.

Boyhood: More Oscar Stuff

Boyhood was the incredibly BOLD and DARING move by Richard Linklater to film a movie across 12 years following the same group of characters as their lives evolve and change through the year. I struggle with these movies a lot because I really enjoyed school and high school, so the whole teenage angsty thing is pretty much lost on me. I played sports and wasn't particularly emo-y or artsy, so I roll into this biased. The movie follows a divorced Mom (Patricia Arquette, who is VERY hot in the early years I want to mention), her daughter (played by Linklater's actual daughter), son, and their biological father (Ethan Hawke, who rocks). It goes through the trials and tribulations of primarily the son with a dash of everyone else. It is really fascinating to see the physical changes in the characters throughout the years and how their lives are moving along. There is some drama from Arquette marrying dude's with some issues. Hawke is flawed in the regard that he is all about having fun, living life, and not being a responsible parent in the kids earlier years. The problem that I have is that the gimmick of being filmed for 12 years is what makes this special. It's following around people, almost documentary-like and that about sums it up. Bottom line: 7.2 out of 10. I was largely unimpressed by this film due to the fact of the sizzle outweighing the substance. Ellar Coltrane will be working in Hollywood for a long time and Arquette and Hawke are both excellent, but it really is a rather boring slice of life film at it's core. My inability to empathize with the characters really has a negative effect on my rating I'm quite certain.

The Imitation Game: More Oscar Bait for Me to Enjoy!

The Imitation Game came out of relatively nowhere, but I heard it referred to a "Top 10 movie all-time" by a guy on Colin Cowherd's show and I noticed it's amazing scores on Rotten Tomatoes. Those coupled with Benedict Cumberbatch= Must see movie for this guy. The film follows the tale of Alan Turing, a British mathematics genius who worked on deciphering the German Enigma machine during WWII. I, being a history nerd of sorts, knew that Britain decoded the Enigma machine, which led to valuable intelligence, specifically the D-Day landing and towards the end of the war. Alan Turing is your standard unsung hero lost from the pages of history that possibly played a larger role in shaping our modern world than any other person of the 20th century. I realize how incredibly bold this statement is considering the likes of Einstein, Oppenheimer (guy who is most credited with the Atomic bomb), Tesla, Edison (more 19th century though), Gates, Jobs, ETC all have been involved in that century. Turing decided in 1940 already that the key to decoding the German encrypted messages was to create a machine that could run through all 159,000,000,000,000,000,000 possibilities of the Enigma machine to decode everything instead of trying to decode individual messages. His views weren't shared by many, particularly his Col. on sight, but he gains a powerful ally in MI-6 agent (JAMES BOND SHIT) Stewart Menzies who has a direct line to Churchill. He receives funding and eventually controls the others in his unit. The sole focus becomes making a "computer" that can run all the potential combinations quickly enough (before Midnight every day) to decode the intercepted messages in enough time to be useful. The Germans didn't even try to hide their messages because of their absolute trust that the Enigma was unbreakable. Turing faced a LOT of challenges and even after cracking the code he faced every kind of dilemma and stress imaginable. I don't want to release the secrets of the film, but his life was tragic and he truly held the weight of world at times. This was all secret until 2013 and THAT'S an incredible accomplishment to keep the accomplishments of that group hidden from the world. Amazing that those responsible for such heroism and feats of greatness couldn't share it with ANYONE. Bottom Line: 9.5 out of 10. Another incredible film that could again be "Oscar bait", but it was incredibly well done in all aspects. Cumberbatch plays the genius socially awkward guy perfectly. Knightley does VERY well in a complex role, Mark Strong is perfect as the mysterious MI-6 agent, Matt Goode is awesome. I was impressed by the effort by all and deeply saddened by the facts uncovered by this film and how we couldn't celebrate the great accomplishment of Alan Turing, the Grandfather of the computer. Hats off cast & crew of The Imitation Game. Oyewolo deserves Best Actor over Cumberbatch for the record.

Selma, AL: A Snapshot of the Civil Rights Movement

Selma, AL I jumped on board after seeing the Golden Globes. I consider myself wise about history, but I couldn't have told you what occurred in Selma, AL in 1964. It's utterly impossible to understand what the 1960's (and anytime before as well) would have been like for African-Americans. History is often written with blood and the civil rights movement is certainly an example of that. Selma was just a snapshot of the violence experienced in the South, but this film did the best job of depicting the horrific violence of the time. David Oyelowo should certainly be getting Best Actor props for his portrayal of Dr. King. Just a phenomenal job from Oyelowo. All the acting in this film is fantastic, particularly Tom Wilkinson as Lyndon B. Johnson (the B is for Baines!), Tim Roth as Gov. Wallace, Oprah, Common, Wendell Pierce (BUNK from the Wire!) Carmen Ejogo as Coretta Scott King and Giovanni Ribisi were all phenomenal. Disappointing that a lot of the people mentioned are British actors playing americans including Oyelowo as Dr. King. The tale of Selma would be awesome in a mini-series because SO much was going on that I was completely unaware of. Selma, AL was chosen by Dr. King and his supporters as THE place to fight for voting rights. I forgot how crucial the ability to vote is. Selma was over 50% African-American, so the ability to vote= real representation immediately. Voting also= the ability to be selected to a jury, which would finally be able to convict white criminals of the atrocities against blacks. I couldn't have been more impressed with the way they handled all the historical aspects. Bottom Line: 9.2 out of 10. I was an enormous fan of this film. I'm a history nerd, so maybe this is biased, but I was very impressed with all aspects of this film. Great job all the way around. I honestly wish this would've been a longer movie so they could dive even deeper into more of the events in Selma. I'm totally cool that this was possibly "shameless" Oscar pandering, but it's awesome. Go see this in theatres.

Dumb and Dumber To: Long Awaited for No Reason

I, like most human beings my age, loved Dumb & Dumber. The sequel was due 15 years ago, but here we are. Jeff Daniels and Jim Carrey are both tremendous actors both comedically and all-around. This movie catches us up on Harry & Lloyd in the present by making it seem like Lloyd has been faking being catatonic for the last 18 years. The plot is created by Lloyd snapping out of his catatonic "joke" state and having Harry tell Lloyd he needs a kidney to survive. They return to Harry's home, catch some cheap laughs, as they do throughout, and find a postcard exclaiming Harry has a daughter from 22 years ago with Fraida Felcher. They go on a cross-country search to find her, reconnect, and get a sweet, young kidney. Rob Riggle, Laurie Holden, Kathleen Turner, and secretly Bill Murray in a tiny cameo, all lend their talents to this film and they can't save it. Albeit from some very funny, cheap laughs it's clearly impossible to replicate the greatness of the first film. It's funny at times, there is some charm and bits from the original here as well, but it's fleeting moments. Bottom Line: 6.4 out of 10. It's something that you can get some cheap laughs out of, but sadly that's about it. Watch when it's free on TV in the near future.

The Equalizer: Denzel Boner

I am a shameless lover of Denzel Washington kicking ass. If I'm wrong that it's great entertainment, I don't want to be right. With that preface out of the way, I eagerly saw Equalizer. Denzel is a widowed man working at a Home Depot-esque store, reading classic literature, helping a couple people with life, and drinking tea some evenings at a 24/7 diner because he doesn't sleep. There he meets an underaged "call-girl" played creepily by Chloe Grace Moretz because she was 16 during filming, but she does a good job and will continue to get work. She turns 18 in February, so all creepy/pederast-like stuff comes off the board, which will help her out I'm sure. They chat for a bit, she is called to a limo where a large man she refers to as a "pig" of a client shuttles her away. She comes back with a bruise next time at the diner, Denzel asks what happened, she lies, next time he sees her is at a hospital where she is staying because she was severely beaten. Denzel now takes special interest, which is all you've wanted to see since the opening credits. He stops by the pimps place of business, offers $9800 to buy her freedom. Slavi (the Pimp) makes the last mistake of his life and Denzel kills 5 dudes in 25 seconds unarmed. You find out those 5 guys ran a decent portion of a Russian crime bosses' Boston syndicate. Russian crime boss is angry, he sends his "Get Shit Done" guy named Teddy, played by admirably by Marton Csokas, who I remember as the King who fucks up horribly in Kingdom of Heaven. Teddy uses the local crew (crooked Boston Cops) to help track down Denzel. Denzel now decides to make his pet project fucking up the Russian's crime syndicate and things are finally to where you want them to be. Denzel is great in this role of aged, but still crazy lethal, hitman. Bottom Line: 7.6 out of 10. If you enjoy supreme badass Denzel, you're going to like this. I was actually GIDDY waiting for him to kick someone's ass. There are a few too many details outside of him kicking Russian ass for my liking, but they needed to fill some time.

Parkland: The $1.99 Black Friday Pick

I took a shot at Parkland for $2 on Black Friday because I am deeply fascinated with the JFK assassination and it has a very good cast of Billy Bob Thornton, Paul Giamatti, Ron Livingstone, Zac Efron (He isn't terrible in this actually), and others you'll recognize throughout. The story attempts to show others besides JFK, his family, Oswald, or the others you'd expect. It follows Kennedy's body into Parkland Hospital and focuses on a couple doctors/nurses for a stretch. It follows Abe Zapruder as he takes the famous footage of Kennedy being shot. It follows Oswald's brother & mother for a stretch. It follows the head of the FBI in Dallas (BILLY BOB!). There are more, but you obviously get the point. Following these characters does help give a different perspective and depth to the assassination that was interesting, but it's spread WAY too thin. You don't care enough about anyone's story since they aren't on screen enough. It also fails to REALLY have a point or a solid direction throughout. It's very unfocused sadly and I think it was possible to have a very good film with what they had. Bottom Line: 6.8 out of 10. It was entertaining and I especially liked Giamatti's performance as Abe Zapruder, but I'm a big Paul G fan, so it's probably biased. It has some interesting things about the assassination that I didn't know, so I enjoyed those parts. It's worth a viewing if you're a JFK fan.